THE FIRST PILL designed to curb a person’s urge to have more than a few drinks at a sitting is undergoing tests in Europe, promising doctors and public health authorities a new approach to fighting alcoholism.
The drug, nalmefene, made by H Lundbeck, blocks brain signals that make activities such as sex and drinking feel good. Should trials succeed, the medicine may win clearance in Europe as early as 2012, becoming the first new alcoholism treatment approved there in more than 15 years.
While the drugs now sold are used to prevent relapses after people quit drinking, nalmefene is aimed at reducing consumption without the abstinence that Alcoholics Anonymous and other treatment programmes say is necessary.
This less-strict approach may drive more abusers to seek treatment for the first time, said Adron Harris, director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Waggoner Center for Alcohol Addiction Research.
“A major problem among alcohol abusers is that many are not interested in seeking treatment, perhaps because they do not want to accept the goal of complete abstinence,” Prof Harris said.
The drug's effects may prove greater on public health than on Lundbeck. Peter Welford, a London-based analyst at Jefferies International Ltd, said nalmefene may have peak sales for alcohol dependence of about $60 million (€46 million) a year, in 2018. That's equivalent to a fraction of the $2.57 billion (€1.96 billion) in total revenue for the company last year. – (Bloomberg)